Tell the jury about the creation of the original music track.

Unsilenced is the first song to be written and performed through a combination of sign language and dance. It was the result of a unique collaboration between deaf dancer Billy Read and electronic duo Haute. Through the process of writing, Billy used his sense of touch to feel the beat, and give feedback to Haute. The team also worked in tandem on the lyrics, to bring Billy’s unique story to life.

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

In order to help bridge the gap between the deaf and hearing communities, we created Unsilenced: the first original song composed to be sung entirely through sign language and dance. Though at first, the film appeared to be a stylish music video for an instrumental song, when viewers arrived at the end, they realized that the dancer they’d been watching was in fact a deaf artist who had been singing in sign language the entire time. Viewers were then directed to an interactive website where they could “unsilence” the lyrics and reveal the powerful message hidden in the words.